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I need to vent, so if you'd rather skip right to the pics at the bottom, that's where the actual questions are. If you're a resident of Seaside, my apologies if this comes out as offensive, it's mostly just the sun talking.

So, against all better judgement, I decided to take a day trip to what I'd consider one of Dante's hottest rings of hell, Seaside Heights NJ. If you're from NJ, I need not explain further. If you're not, perhaps you're familiar with one of the biggest train wrecks in American television, The Jersey Shore?

Anyway, as I may have mentioned in the past, I'm not really a beach guy. Let me expand on that and say, I'm not really the outdoorsy type at all. Honestly, I just assume board up the windows and watch movies all weekend before venturing out to the Walmart, much less going to a park or a beach. I'm also not really a people person, either, so mix all of this with summer right around the corner, and I'm seriously out of my element. I must be really loving this whole kiting thing to go so far outside my comfort zone, huh?

The good part is I got a chance to support a local kite shop. I picked up an 11' Shark, a blue Switch, a sleeve for the Hypno, and a proper stake so I can stop using stray chunks of driftwood. After talking with the owner for while, she gave me directions to a "good place" to fly. This term would turn out to be the very definition of relative.

It was still day time when we got there, and I was able to stake out a decent piece of beach alright, but soon after the trouble started. The kite trouble.

Now, maybe I'm just inexperienced, but after 20 minutes of trying to get this kite in the sky I realized something just wasn't right:

It wanted to go, the wind was pulling it hard, but it just kept folding in half onto itself, so I made a new knot much closer to the nose and up it went. Now, am I crazy here, or would you agree that bridal loop was not in the correct location straight out of the bag?

Next up was the Hypno. Last week I attempted to fly in what I thought (that's what the news said) to be 11-13mph winds, yet I couldn't keep the kite in the sky. I dismissed it as being either a mistake or some other anomaly, but maybe it was me all along?

Today there was a nice steady wind, yet I struck out once again. After launching, It would go up, stall, totally drift to the edge of the window, then tumble to the sand. Over and over this would happen. At one point when I attempted to bring it back to the center, I accidentally performed my first stunt! Upon completing the walk of the shame I noticed the lines were neatly wrapped around the leading edges in what looked to be the first part of a perfect double yo-yo. I just can't explain it. It was as if the kite was haunted or something. At one point I felt like I was literally doing a 360 like the low wind flying segment in the Prism video. I kept thinking maybe I'm trying to launch at the end of the window, but as I kept pumping and walking the kite just kept flailing around. I was going to take a video, but at this point my daughter had to use the bathroom. That's when the other trouble began...

After packing up the kites, I went up the street, but neither my wife and daughter or a bathroom were to be found. I drove up and down the strip for 40 mins. trying to locate them. I realized shortly after that I was technically "cruising" at this point. Being there were more cops within a 12 block radius than some states have in total, I was starting to get edgy. When I finally caught up to them, my daughter asked if she could ride the Ferris wheel. I caved and began looking for a parking spot. At this point I started having prom weekend flashbacks as I took notice of hordes of overly tanned teenagers drinking from red plastic cups atop seedy hotel balconies. Meanwhile the smells and sounds of the boardwalk were bombarding my senses. A quote from the great Obi-Wan Kenobi echoed in my head, "You will never find a more wretched of hive of scum and villiany." Needless to say, I promised my daughter we'd go to Chuck E Cheese as consolation for not "having time" to ride that Ferris wheel.

Two hours later and here I am, tired, confused, defeated. Seriously, I checked and double checked every connection on that damn kite. I looked for broken spars, bridal adjustments, rips in the sail, everything. There was nothing that I could see that would cause the Hypno to behave so oddly. Nothing except this...

Please tell me that was the reason. I can live with making a stupid mistake. What I can't accept is having to drive out an hour or more next weekend only to have this happen all over again. Would the standoffs being aligned differently on both sides of the kite cause such madness?! I can see them maybe causing some balance issues, but would they really make the kite virtually unflyable?!

The standoffs could not have that great of an effect in my opinion. I would bet that your bridle is just way off. Whe you have the kite assembled and hold/hang it by the bridle lines, it should tip slightly forward. By that I mean that the spine should be angled slightly toward you.

If it can be a bit forward or back, but if drastically so, then the kite will likely not fly well.

The behaviour you describe for your Hypno is typical of a sport kite in turbulence, i.e. gusty wind where the wind direction changes frequently. Was the wind blowing from the sea to the land or in another direction? If it was blowing from the land, even slightly, I'd put it down to that and that alone.

The behaviour you describe for your Hypno is typical of a sport kite in turbulence, i.e. gusty wind where the wind direction changes frequently. Was the wind blowing from the sea to the land or in another direction? If it was blowing from the land, even slightly, I'd put it down to that and that alone.

That's exactly what I was thinking. My Hypnotist does *not* do heavy turbulence well at all. As I gained experience with it I could keep it in the air much of the time when conditions weren't good, but a good gust going the other direction would always knock it out of the air.

KSC, you did discover one fun thing about the Hypnotist: that sucker will do whole routines on it's own. I can't tell you how many times I'd fumble and the kite would suddenly have too much slack, then would do half-axels to fades to backflips... sometimes as many as five or six different tricks. It was so cool and I would just stand there awestruck. lol

The standoffs could not have that great of an effect in my opinion. I would bet that your bridle is just way off. Whe you have the kite assembled and hold/hang it by the bridle lines, it should tip slightly forward. By that I mean that the spine should be angled slightly toward you.

If it can be a bit forward or back, but if drastically so, then the kite will likely not fly well.

This could just be bad perspective on my part, but it almost appears as if it's completely level, ie the spine is perpendicular to the floor. If I had to choose a direction, I'd say the nose is tilting slightly upwards. I did mess with the bridal the other day by adjusting it for light winds, but I slid the prussic knots back to regular settings. I kept checking those the whole day thinking they were off, but they couldn't be by more than a millimeter from each other.

The behaviour you describe for your Hypno is typical of a sport kite in turbulence, i.e. gusty wind where the wind direction changes frequently. Was the wind blowing from the sea to the land or in another direction? If it was blowing from the land, even slightly, I'd put it down to that and that alone.

The wind was definitely coming in from the sea, however, it did seem like it may have been changing direction often. It wasn't obvious, though. I remember once at the park I felt like the hands on a demented clock from changing my direction so many times. It literally changed every 2 minutes. I did notice yesterday, while walking back to the straps (wind hitting me directly in the face), that there just wasn't that good feeling of tension in the sail when I prepared to launch. It seemed like the wind was blowing directly at my back as I stood there, yet the lines were not taught. They always seemed to bend one one way or the other, but no matter where I moved I couldn't get them straight...?

That's exactly what I was thinking. My Hypnotist does *not* do heavy turbulence well at all. As I gained experience with it I could keep it in the air much of the time when conditions weren't good, but a good gust going the other direction would always knock it out of the air.

KSC, you did discover one fun thing about the Hypnotist: that sucker will do whole routines on it's own. I can't tell you how many times I'd fumble and the kite would suddenly have too much slack, then would do half-axels to fades to backflips... sometimes as many as five or six different tricks. It was so cool and I would just stand there awestruck. lol

Welcome to kiting.

Nancy

LOL! At one point, in total frustration, as I watched the kite slide 180 degrees to the left completely on it's own, I yanked the right strap so hard the kite spun around on both axis like 9 times before crashing. It looked like a fighter jet with a wing shot off.

Maybe that was it, then? Another day of inexperience where it seems like great winds to a novice simply because flags are blowing and hair is being tousled, but in reality it's temperamental at best. I'm going to Liberty State Park in few hours to give it another go. If anyone from the Metro area notices a Fire Hypnotist wrapped around the Statue of Liberty's torch later on today, that's me giving up!

Hopefully you meet up with some other fliers at LSP. Sounds like you need someone to look over your shoulder to help figure out what's wrong with the Hypno. It's not you, it's the kite... The uneven standoffs weren't what caused you to not be able to fly. There's something going wrong with the bridle more than likely. I was surprised when you had no luck when you were out on the Island last week, and now this week, both times the with wind coming off the water. Nothing more frustrating than going out to fly, and not being able to. Don't give up, it's all worth it in the end !

LOL! At one point, in total frustration, as I watched the kite slide 180 degrees to the left completely on it's own, I yanked the right strap so hard the kite spun around on both axis like 9 times before crashing. It looked like a fighter jet with a wing shot off.

The times where I've had a kite spin around like that I've usually had some kind of wrap happen-- usually around the wing. The good news is that you usually have enough time to recognize what's happening and you can prevent big damage by walking/running forward to slow things way down until you've landed the kite. The other good news.... and why lots of people recommend the Hypnotist is that it can take the abuse we newbies inflict. It's amazing, really.

2 things with the hypno most new fliers miss. First is the radical vs forgiving setting. You need to make sure before you fly that these are the sam on both sides. THe hypno sometime will slip on this setting and lock in creating the uneven bridle that will cause the flailing you describe. 2nd is the wing tip bunjie. IF it comes off or get really loose, one wing will have more billow creating drive than the other also causing it to want to turn to one side. Last thing kite relates to check is lines. IF they are more than an inch different in length you might not realize it and compensate for it in hand position.

As for the SLK it is common for bridles to be set to work in a general wind speed and be off when you actually get them out. I always take out overhand loops and add a pig tail prussic knotted to the bride for easy adjustment.

Now being that you were at seaside, and I'm assuming you were close to the boardwalk when flying, YOu probably had what I call circular winds. We get them here from time to time. YOu get heavy thermals coming off the hot sand, swirls caused by the pier in different directions and you end up effectively flying in a twister with wind one way on you and another at the kite. IF you get good enough to read the wind and can take advantage of it it can be quite fun but for a new flier its nothing but frustration.

I got to LSP around 3 o'clock. I had never really been there before, so I drove around to scope the place out. At first I was discouraged. I didn't see a kite in the sky nor too many open spaces in which to fly one. Those that I did see were pretty well staked out by families and what not. My frustration almost got the better of me and I was about to leave when I decided I might as well park the car and take a quick walk around. Good thing I did.

As soon I got to the top of the hill the first thing I see is a HUGE foil and a dude on a big board. He was working the kite to keep it moving, but it was airborne! So, I quickly set up, and would you believe, the minute I get the straps in my hand it was as if someone hit the wind switch to "OFF". I believed it. I never even attempted to launch the Hypno. I couldn't bear to see it flutter from the sky again. I simply staked my straps down, grabbed a SLK, and waited it out.

Of course the shark decided to be temperamental, and is probably on the heavy side, so that never really got there, either. Still, it was fun taking turns running around with it hovering over our heads yelling, "RUN! SHARK!". Of course the sky was filled with an army of Dollar store kites. Being that this is how my kite career began, the irony was not lost on me one bit. Later the Foil guy came over and introduced himself to us and we shared in our pain for lack of good winds. We had both read the report claiming 13ph at 4pm, yet 20 minutes into the hour and not a single leaf stirred. He eventually packed up, but I decided to stay a little longer. Good thing I did.

Ten minutes later someone flicked that switch back ON. Branches on the trees began to rustle, the shark's tail began to flounder, my hat blew off my head and the Hypno launched straight into the sky. No pull in either direction, so flailing, and no odd behavior whatsoever. It acted and reacted exactly as it had the first few times I flew. I was able to get in two good hours practicing some figures and landings.

I appreciate all the advice and encouragement, everyone. Thank you. And thanks, Anthony, for the great tips as well. I will keep them all in mind for the future. I guess what I really just needed was to be more patient. I'm not used to having hobbies that rely on anything unpredictable like the elements. Most of things I liked doing in the past simply required either a power source or a credit card. I'll have to work on that.

Firstly, until you are under control with the flying, keep away from the general public, for 2 reasons, the obvious first is safety, and the (still connected) second is, you don't want to have to be too situationally aware of your surroundings while getting the first days under your belt, if your not a 'outdoorsy' bloke then I'm guessing you are keenly aware of every move going on around you, and that ads pressure you don't need at this point, you want to be able to get lost in the flying

Second, get a cool 'hoody'(or a long T) something that says you da s4!t I covert the FA hoody 'for cool kiters only' (they don't check ) it'll give you at least a sense of street cred, avoid socks with sandles (go bare footed, or trainers, NO BLACK SOCKS oh ok little ones might be OK), tucking shirts into shorts with a belt is a CRIME (loose and hangin free here is the style) and never ever wear a Tilly hat in public (baseball cap and sunnies are the pref 'look'). If you don't you'll probably be arrested immediately if my reading of JS is anywhere near the money.

Regards,

'The Stylish One'

That Chuck e Cheese looks like it might be as dangerous as Seaside Heights... (salad 'bars' scare me more than armed drunken youths after dark)

P.S. Well done on challenging yourself, be a little proud of that, the way I read it you did good, good luck with the next bit

Firstly, until you are under control with the flying, keep away from the general public, for 2 reasons, the obvious first is safety, and the (still connected) second is, you don't want to have to be too situationally aware of your surroundings while getting the first days under your belt, if your not a 'outdoorsy' bloke then I'm guessing you are keenly aware of every move going on around you, and that ads pressure you don't need at this point, you want to be able to get lost in the flying

Second, get a cool 'hoody'(or a long T) something that says you da s4!t I covert the FA hoody 'for cool kiters only' (they don't check ) it'll give you at least a sense of street cred, avoid socks with sandles (go bare footed, or trainers, NO BLACK SOCKS oh ok little ones might be OK), tucking shirts into shorts with a belt is a CRIME (loose and hangin free here is the style) and never ever wear a Tilly hat in public (baseball cap and sunnies are the pref 'look'). If you don't you'll probably be arrested immediately if my reading of JS is anywhere near the money.

Regards,

'The Stylish One'

That Chuck e Cheese looks like it might be as dangerous as Seaside Heights... (salad 'bars' scare me more than armed drunken youths after dark)

P.S. Well done on challenging yourself, be a little proud of that, the way I read it you did good, good luck with the next bit

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